Ohio Transfer Module (OTM)

The Ohio Board of Regents' Transfer and Articulation Policy established the Ohio Transfer Module (OTM), which is a subset or entire set of a college or university’s general education curriculum in A.A., A.S. and baccalaureate programs. Students in applied associate degree programs may complete some individual transfer module courses within their degree program or continue beyond the degree program to complete the entire transfer module.

Oral communication and interdisciplinary areas may be included as additional options. Additional elective credit hours from among these areas make up the total credit hours for a completed Transfer Module.

Courses for the Transfer Module should be 100- and 200-level general education courses commonly completed in the first two years of a student’s course of study. Each state-assisted university, technical and community college is required to establish and maintain an approved Transfer Module.

Transfer Module course(s) or the full module completed at one college or university will automatically meet the requirements of individual Transfer Module course(s) or the full Transfer Module at another college or university once the student is admitted. Students may be required, however, to meet additional general education requirements at the institution to which they transfer. For example, a student who completes the Transfer Module at Institution S (sending institution) and then transfers to institution R (receiving institution) is said to have completed the Transfer Module portion of Institution R’s general education program. Institution R, however, may have general education courses that go beyond its Transfer Module. State policy initially required that all courses in the Transfer Module be completed to receive its benefit in transfer. However, subsequent policy revisions have extended this benefit to the completion of individual Transfer Module courses on a course-by-course basis.

Transfer Assurance Guide (TAG)

Transfer Assurance Guides (TAG) comprise Transfer Module courses and additional courses required for an academic major. A TAG is an advising tool to assist Ohio university and community and technical college students planning specific majors to make course selections that will ensure comparable, compatible, and equivalent learning experiences across the state’s higher-education system. A number of area-specific TAG pathways in the arts, humanities, business, communication, education, health, mathematics, science, engineering, engineering technologies, and the social sciences have been developed by faculty teams.

The TAG empowers students to make informed course selection decisions and plans for their future transfer. Advisors at the institution to which a student wishes to transfer should also be consulted during the transfer process. Students may elect to complete the full TAG or any subset of course from the TAG. Because of specific major requirements, early identification of a student’s intended major is encouraged.

Conditions For Transfer Admission

Ohio residents with associate degrees from state-assisted institutions and a completed, approved Transfer Module shall be admitted to a state institution of; higher education in Ohio, provided their cumulative grade point average is at least 2.0 for all previous college-level courses. Further, these students shall have admission priority over out-of-state associate degree graduates and transfer students.

When students have earned associate degrees but have not completed a Transfer Module, they will be eligible for preferential consideration for admission as transfer students if they have grade point averages of at least a 2.00 for all previous college-level courses

In order to encourage completion of the baccalaureate degree, students who are not enrolled in an A.A. or A.S. degree program but have earned 60 credit hours or 90 quarter hours or more of credit toward a baccalaureate with a grade point average of at least 2.00 for all previous college-level courses will be eligible for preferential consideration for admission as transfer students.

Students who have not earned an A.A. or A.S. degree or who have not earned 60 credit hours or 90 quarter hours of credit with a grade point average of at least a 2.00 for all previous college-level courses are eligible for admission as transfer students on a competitive basis.

Incoming transfer students admitted to a college or university shall compete for admission to selective programs, majors and units on an equal basis with students native to the receiving institution.

Admission to a given institution, however, does not guarantee that transfer students will be automatically admitted to all majors, minors or fields of concentration at that institution. Once admitted, transfer students shall be subject to the same regulations governing applicability of Catalog requirements as native students. Furthermore, transfer students shall be accorded the same class standing and other privileges as native students on the basis of the number of credits earned. All residency requirements must be completed at the receiving institution.

Acceptance of Transfer Credit

To recognize courses appropriately and provide equity in the treatment of incoming transfer students and students native to the receiving institution, transfer credit will be accepted for all successfully completed college-level courses completed in and after fall 2005 from Ohio state-assisted institutions of higher education. Students who successfully completed A.A. or A.S. degrees prior to fall 2005 with a minimum 2.00 overall grade point average would also receive credit for all college-level course they have passed. (See Ohio Articulation and Transfer Policy, Definition of Passing Grade and Appendix D.) While this reflects the baseline policy requirement, individual institutions may set equitable institutional policies that are more accepting.

Pass/fail courses, credit by examination courses, experiential learning courses and other non-traditional credit courses that meet these conditions will also be accepted and posted to the student record.

Responsibilities of Students

To facilitate transfer with maximum applicability of transfer credit, prospective transfer students should plan a course of study that will meet the requirements of a degree program at the receiving institution. Students should use the Transfer Module, Transfer Assurance Guides and Course Applicability System for guidance in planning the transfer process. Specifically, students should identify early in their collegiate studies and institution and major to which they desire to transfer. Furthermore, students should determine if there are language requirements or any special course requirements that can be met during the freshman or sophomore year. This will enable students to plan and pursue a course of study that will articulate with the receiving institution's major. Students are encouraged to seek further information regarding transfer from both their advisor and the college or university which they plan to transfer.

Appeals Process

Following the evaluation of a student transcript from another institution, the receiving institution shall provide the student with a statement of transfer credit applicability. At the same time, the institution must inform the student of the institution's appeals process. The process should be multi-level and responses should be issued within 30 days of the receipt of the appeal.

Transfer Credit, Proficiency Testing and Other Options in Meeting the Transfer Module

Certain alternatives to formal Kent State coursework may be recognized in the fulfilling of the 36-37 credit hour Transfer Module requirements.

Credits earned for specified courses within the Transfer Module course list through external credit conferring testing programs, such as the Advanced Placement (AP) and College Level Examination Program (CLEP) subject examinations, will be applied toward the fulfillment of the Transfer Module requirements as appropriate for the specific courses for which credit is received.

Courses transferred from accredited post-secondary institutions will be applied toward fulfillment of the Transfer Module requirements as appropriate for the specific courses for which credit is awarded.

The university’s Credit-By-Examination (CBE) program may be utilized in fulfillment of Transfer Module requirements within the conditions, guidelines and policies established for that program and for the course(s) for which credit is sought.

Proficiency, as established by placement examinations or other recognized procedures and mechanisms for this purpose, can be used to fulfill Area I and II of the Transfer Module requirements. For example, students who are placed into ENG 21011 and complete it with a passing grade will have met the Area I Transfer Module requirement. It is assumed that students who are placed at and pass the higher level of one of these sequenced courses have also mastered the content of the prerequisite course. While students may meet the requirements of Area I and II through proficiency, minimum credit hours must be met in Areas III, IV and V. Students meeting Area I and II requirements through proficiency must substitute other courses, which shall be elective, to earn a minimum of 121 credit hours of appropriate coursework toward a baccalaureate.

To fulfill the purposes of general education, any of the above alternatives to the fulfillment of the Transfer Module requirements by 36-37 credit hours of formal coursework at Kent State University must be exercised by the students within the first 60 credit hours of academic credits earned at and/or transferred to Kent State University.

Students who transfer to the university with more than 45 credit hours of applicable credits (including students with associate’s degrees in technology from the Kent State University Regional Campuses or those who transfer to bachelor-level programs from associate-level technology programs) must exercise such option(s) within the first calendar year of their Kent State University enrollment.

Questions concerning, and requests for application of, these alternatives to formal Kent State University coursework as a means of fulfilling the Transfer Module requirements shall be addressed to, and will be determined by, the dean of the college or independent school in which the degree program that the students are pursuing is located.